jack

Might also be a job for a Willis heater. Bit of pipework involved, but a lot cheaper and easier than replacing the cylinder.

Can't you just retrofit an Essex flange to the existing tank?

That sounds barking to me.

I doubt you'd get by on a non-material amendment, but could you apply for a minor material amendment?

Yes, that's the one. There are smaller through-wall units like this one. I'm sure I've seen counterflow exchangers that are more like conventional through-wall extractor fans, but I can't seem to find one right now. Efficiency is low, but they're cheap, and easy to get rid of if and when you ultimately link the buildings and start using the MVHR in the currently separate room.

Do you absolutely need to connect it to the main MVHR unit? Having long U-shaped ducts seems to be begging for problems. I know you'll be insulating them, but I can't help but think of that Belgian (I think) house that was condemned due to infected earth pre-heat tubes following moisture build-up. At the least, you'll need to consider some sort of sump and drain arrangement (again, I think). My personal preference would be to find a way to ventilate it separately. Is it small enough that one of those in-wall counterflow units would work? Or the Viking House fine wire unit?

So not on the "sod it, the bathroom thread is only a million pages long so what's another delay" basis then?

Have a good time. That sounds like my idea of heaven - my wife might even stop looking at her bloody phone!

Good spot, thanks. I've corrected it. My main point was that it isn't a graph of power.

Bit late to this, but I was away on hols last week. 9 April was our best day since late August last year: (Note: the graph shows Wh per 15 min interval. So, for example, between 12 and 1pm we averaged about 5.6kW) Generation started at 6:30 in the morning and was still going after 7:15 that night. The flattening out between 8 and 9:30 is due to shading from trees beside the house.

I don't doubt that's right. The thing in your favour (as i guess you know with your background) is that unlike the rest of us, solicitors have externally imposed standards they must meet. They can be low cost, and maybe even refuse to talk on the phone, but they do have to be responsive, and they have to keep their client's interests in mind when acting. The delays you're talking about seem to fall foul of both those requirements. Possibly worth starting to keep notes about when you call, who you speak to, and what they say.

I agree with you, this sounds very odd! Was this arrangement made clear in your original engagement documents? Even if it was, I'd expect particularly timely replies to all written correspondence if they won't let you speak to anyone. There's some useful guidance in the SRA Handbook. If you think she's lying to you, ask her for copies of the correspondence she says she's had. Given what's happened so far, I'd be having a word to the SRA or the ombudsman. If you haven't gone through your firm's formal complaints procedure, you can't get the SRA formally involved yet, but they should be able to give guidance on what they consider acceptable behaviour.

Agree completely, she did a stunning job. In fact, we stole a couple aesthetic ideas from her (didn't do as a good a job though ) On time and under budget as well (her's, not ours!)

We have an MBC slab with a ~65mm polished concrete overlay. I too tend to walk around barefoot all year round and find it perfectly pleasant. My wife prefers warmer feet so tends to wear socks except when it's really warm, but she'd do that with any floor covering other than carpet I'd say! Some will remember that we had an accidental puncturing of the UFH heating circuit in our study. I've just gone through the entire winter with that UFH circuit turned off. I wasn't able to measure the floor temperature, unfortunately, but it was markedly colder than that of the rest of the house, especially by Jan/Feb. Even so, as long as I had any form of shoes or socks on, it was fine, and the room itself never felt hugely colder than the rest of the house despite the absence of any heating whatsoever. @divorcingjack, if you're planning to polish an MBC slab, have you been following @MikeSharp01's threads about this? His latest one is here.

I wondered for a moment what forum I'd logged onto!

How did you get Bono to get off his arse and do some work?

One thing to consider is that concrete is very sensitive to mixing and components. We had terrible spalling on the surface of our slab. While the weather (unexpected frost and rain squalls during and after the pour) didn't help, I'm convinced that the onsite mixer lorries didn't help. At various points, the MBC guys were shouting out for less water in the mix. If I were doing it again, I'd insist on premixed concrete rather than the onsite mix, even if it were more expensive. This would doubly be true if I were relying on the final surface being perfect. You should also look into what admixtures might be used to improve curing, reduce cracking, increase hardness, etc. I know there's a lot of thought goes into these where a polished concrete floor is being laid, so there's a chance similar considerations might apply where you're relying on the finished slab surface. I'd talk to a concrete polishing company and see what they think (PM me if you want to know who we used).

Throw in Gibraltar and it's a deal!

@Nickfromwales, in answer to your question on the other thread, we haven't had problems anywhere else. Maybe 5-10 spots over the whole house where screwheads have popped the overlying skim. There are some fine cracks in the odd corner, and a more significant one where one section of ceiling skim joins another due to it not being possible to skim the whole ceiling in one go (long story - the guy doing the skimming was different to the ones who did the boarding - for the most part he did an excellent job). Certainly no bowing or significant cracking that I can see. That said, the internal walls are either double boarded with 12.5mm plasterboard, or have a single layer of 12.5mm Fermacell where we expected things might need to be hung (eg, TV), so not the same as the bathrooms.

Happy wife, happy life.

Finish the bathroom first and we can talk!

Yes, definitely warm and draft free now all the roof leaks have been fixed! #firstworldproblems

In that particular situation it makes perfect sense - you're offering the neighbours something they're very likely to want!

I should add, anyone whose thread about his bathroom extends to 27 pages isn't really in a position to complain about occasional off-topic detours!

In a lot of situations, I think this is exactly the way to go about it (of course, I would say that since we did the same!) At the least, neighbours mustn't be asked for their opinions! If you do, you'll get feedback, and then people might get annoyed when you don't take into account their comments. We were lucky that we accidentally weren't able to build for a lot longer than we expected. This gave us a chance to get to know the neighbours a bit more, and to get them used to the idea of what we were doing. We started with the possibility of a large extension and renovation of the tired old bungalow we bought, then with knocking down and rebuilding, then moved on to the idea of a modern house. Close to the day, we put together a package with a nice pic of the house and a covering letter explaining what we were doing. We focused on the build process (prefab timber frame, minimal disruption) and how we were committed to minimising inconvenience for everyone. I don't know what impact this had, but I'm convinced that a lot of people are as put out by the prospect of building works for most of a year as they are by the end product. By the time we submitted our planning application, there was nothing new in it for any of the neighbours. We got no objections (other than from the town council, but they object to everything that isn't covered in hung tile as far as I can see), and indeed one of our neighbours offered to write in support when they got the letter from the planning department through the post. Agreed that's how it should be, but we're stuck dealing with how it is. Since a specific objection will only work if it relates to a planning issue that would otherwise have been overlooked by the planning department (not likely), the main thing to avoid is triggering a call into committee. In some councils, some particular number of objections (5 or 6 is typical, I think) will automatically result in the application being put before committee. If you want to avoid the decision being made by your local planning committee, then keeping the objections below that magic number may help. Or not. It's planning, and who knows what the hell will happen?!